Snowwy Commencement
by carefree34
Summary: a cute, winter-themed oneshot involving Claire's first snow, Taylor Swift, and a sappy but cute Josh. Happy holidays, everyone!


Hey everybody! It's finals week and I don't have any exams until Thursday, so I banged this out over a couple study breaks today cause there was so much going on around me that gave me the inspiration for this. Take the lyrics in the context of the story and not the songs they're from. This is for emeraldeyes101 cause I promised her a closh, like, two years ago, and for cela fille cause she's cool and her great writing inspired me to write something again even if its probably the last thing I'll write on here for a very very long time. Hope you all enjoy it!

_

* * *

I used to think one day, we'd tell the story of us, _

_How we met and the sparks flew instantly

* * *

_

"Snow!" Was the first word out of Claire Lyon's mouth as she burst in to the dorm room of her best friend, Josh Hotz. He stood on a stool, hanging green and red tinsel garlands over the closet door. The small fake tree sitting on his desk was covered in New York Yankee ornaments, and his roommate's wall was adorned with paper snowflakes and stockings. Strands of lights hung over the window, at the moment unplugged. It may have been fairly girly of him to work this hard on decorating, but he knew that if he won his dorm's Holiday Spirit Contest, both he and his roommate would win a pair of tickets to a holiday concert of their choice. And scoring tickets to Taylor Swift's holiday concert would be the perfect excuse for him to finally ask out the grinning, angelic girl standing in his doorway.

"Hey there, Claire," he said casually, trying to ignore the fact that his heartbeat picked up whenever he saw her. She was wearing a powder blue The North Face fleece, and her glossy, white-blonde hair was held back with a silver headband and dotted with melting snowflakes. Black leggings covered her eternally long legs and disappeared into fluffy looking boots, and she was positively glowing with happiness.

"Josh, it's _snowing_ out!" She exclaimed again, running to look out his window and drawing a chuckle from the tall, dark, and handsome boy. She had started boarding school at Westchester Academy just that past fall, and living in Orlando her whole life, she had never seen snow before. "How are you not excited? Isn't it possibly the most beautiful sight you've ever seen?" _No,_ he was tempted to say, _YOU are._

Instead, he hopped down from the stool, grabbed his jacket and his keys, and ushered her out the door. "Then what are we waiting for?" He replied, locking his room. The minute he finished, she grabbed his hand and pulled him outside. He ran along behind, hastily stuffing his keys into his pocket and smiling at her enthusiasm.

Outside _was_ beautiful, Josh decided, even if it didn't even come close to comparing to Claire. The softly falling flakes had already begun to dust the ground, and the street lights were on due to the darkening sky. Claire was looking around in wonder, and Josh was looking at Claire. It was unbelievable, he marveled, that she had been in Westchester for not even four full months and had already captured the hearts of everyone there – teachers, students, the notoriously exclusive "Pretty Committee", and of course, himself who had truly experienced love at first sight.

As Claire stuck out her fleece-covered arms and twirled in the delicate snowfall, Josh thought back to move-in day, when he'd first met her by almost running her over with his skateboard. He'd then proceeded to help her move in, charm her family, and treat her to lemonade at the campus café. At the time she'd had a boyfriend back in Orlando, but they hadn't been at school two weeks before she'd come barging into his room sobbing incoherently into his shoulder. He found out two days later that her friend from home, Mandy, had seen her boyfriend Brendan cheating on her with her old school's biggest slut, and he felt ashamed to be happy at this fact. Thinking he'd now have a chance with her, he had borderline skipped over to her dorm, only to be told by her roommate, Layne, that she was out at the movies with Cam Fisher. The pang in his heart at that news convinced him—he was in love. Why else would he be feeling the most extreme jealousy he'd ever experienced? Why else couldn't he get her out of his head, no matter how hard he tried?

That relationship had only lasted about 3 weeks, as Cam slowly let go of the sweet guy façade he put up and drunkenly cheated on her with Nikki Dalton. She'd sworn off boys in his room the next afternoon, as he comforted her with chocolate frosting, tissues, and open arms. His roommate Kemp had popped his head in a few times to check on her too, but a few pointed looks from Josh got the message across: he wanted them to be alone. Since then, Josh had been without a doubt her best friend. Massie and the girls may have been who she ate lunch with and shopped with and gossiped with; Layne may have been who she watched indie movies with and studied with; but Josh was the one she told everything to. The one who held her secrets and fears and would go on midnight walks and sponsor study breaks consisting of listening to his iPod and lying on their backs in the quad…

All of a sudden he noticed that Claire had stopped spinning and was staring up at him concernedly. "Everything ok, Joshua?" She asked, her head adorably tilted to the side. He nodded and shot her a sheepish grin.

"Yup, I just spaced out for a little, sorry. There's always something so peaceful and, I dunno, timeless about the first snow, don't you think?"

"I wouldn't know, you silly boy!" She exclaimed with a grin, picking up a handful of snow and lobbing it at him.

He laughed at her attempts and picked up some snow, carefully molding it into a perfect sphere. "Oh, it's on Lyons!"

_

* * *

You and I walk a fragile line, I have known it all this time

* * *

_

Kemp walked into his room after his last class, so glad that it was officially the weekend. Fridays the psychotic econ teacher always kept the class about a half an hour late, and would cut your participation grade in half if you left before she said it was ok. He sighed as he plopped his backpack down next to his desk and then did a double take. His wall was covered in paper snowflakes and stockings. _Snowflakes and stockings? What the hell?_ He turned slowly, afraid of what he might see. The windows were draped with Christmas lights and the closet looked like a huge, red and green fuzzy caterpillar died on it. Josh's desk had a small fake tree with blue and white ornaments hanging from it, stamped with the Yankees insignia. What was going on?

Kemp thought back to Wednesday night, when he had been typing that huge research paper that counted as his final for his history class. Josh had mentioned something about how there was a dorm-wide room decorating contest that he wanted to win… and that if they did, Kemp would have the perfect present for his girlfriend Allie-Rose, and how he wanted to win to surprise Claire… That boy was so whipped. Kemp knew that his roommate had had a crush on Claire since September and somehow hadn't managed to reel her in yet. He vaguely remembered telling Josh that it was fine to decorate, as long as he didn't have to do any of the work. But now, looking around the room, he realized his mistake. _This better be worth it, _Kemp thought looking around the room in disgust. True, it would be perfect to win tickets to see Allie-Rose's favorite artist, P!nk, but Kemp didn't know if he would be able to live in this room for the remaining week until winter break if it looked like this. Because not only was Kemp Jewish, but he was also a Red Sox fan.

_

* * *

Drop everything now,_

_Meet me in the pouring rain,_

_Kiss me on the sidewalk, take away the pain

* * *

_

Josh looked down at the tickets in his hands. He'd done it. Granted, none of the other guys in his dorm cared enough to do more than hang candy canes over the doorknob, but that wasn't what mattered. What mattered was that Kemp had stopped mumbling about Hanukah and the Red Sox (which he'd admittedly forgotten about while decorating. oops) and gone to surprise Allie-Rose, but more importantly, he held two tickets that said "Taylor Swift Holiday Special" in Taylor's loopy handwriting. He knew of no better way to win Claire over.

_Flashback:_

"_You know something interesting about Taylor Swift?" Claire asked through sniffles, the pile of tissues next to her on Josh's bed ever-growing. Taylor Swift's just released Speak Now CD was on repeat in the background, like Josh knew she'd want it to be._

"_What's that?" Josh asked, rubbing her back absentmindedly. _

"_She has some really happy, upbeat songs, right? And some really slow, sadder ones too." Josh nodded as she paused to blow her nose. "But my two favorite songs by her that are about break-ups are confusingly danceable." Josh thought he might know which two those were, but it was hard to know. Claire loved Taylor Swift so much, that she couldn't pick a favorite if her life depended on it. _

"_Forever & Always, and Story of Us," Josh guessed. Claire smiled through her tears. _

"_Joshua Michael Hotz, you are the best! Cam…" she trailed off and started sniffling again. But Josh knew what she was trying to say: Cam never would have known that. A month and a half ago he wouldn't have either, but things change when all the girl of your dreams ever wants to listen to is Taylor Swift. They'd spent many study breaks and relaxing late night chats with her as the background music. He could proudly say that he had all three albums on his iPod._

"_That's what I wanna be like, Josh. Put it all behind me, be able to laugh and be cheerful again. Have a medium to channel all my emotion into to make any bad situation ok. TSwift is just a miracle worker."_

"_You know, she's not perfect either. What about White Horse, or You're Not Sorry, or Back to December?" Josh was suddenly worried that might make her sad, but she giggled. _

"_Josh, I love that you know that. You are my best friend ever!" She pulled him into a hug that he gladly returned."But still. 'I'm standing alone in a crowded room, and we're not speaking. And I'm dying to know, if it's killing you like its killing me yea', how can such sad lyrics ne so cheerful and catchy? She can really get me through any situation. Who needs boys when you've got Taylor Swift?"_

That had been when she decided that she wouldn't date anymore. She'd gotten lots of casual date invitations, and plenty of Westchester Academy's most eligible single seniors had asked her to the Halloween dance. He knew it'd be a long shot to earn her affections after she'd been hurt so badly twice in less than a month, so he escorted the lovely Alicia Rivera to the dance while Claire went with Layne as her date. Alicia was cheerful, nice, and undeniably beautiful, but she wasn't an individual like Claire. Besides, she was literally him in a girl form. You really shouldn't date someone that could be your sister.

"Claire, would you like to go to the Taylor Swift holiday concert with me?" No, that wasn't right. "Hey, Claire, guess what I won! Would you like to come?" No, no, no. He needed her to know that he wasn't asking her as just a friend. Everything had to be perfect.

_

* * *

I remember how it felt sitting by the water_

_Every time I look at you, it's like the first time

* * *

_

Josh thought Claire looked absolutely gorgeous as she skipped through the fluffy white snow on their way to the dining hall. _Not like that was abnormal for her_, He thought, admiring her hair falling down her back in loose waves over the hood of her raspberry colored winter jacket. It had been snowing for a week straight, and she had finally caved and bought the warmest winter jacket she could find. Josh's stomach rumbled loudly. He had waited an extra hour for Claire to finish tutoring a freshman girl in math so she would have someone to go to dinner with. She giggled at the noise.

"Thanks, Josh, y'know, for waiting to go with me," Claire said, looking up at him through snow-covered lashes. He couldn't help the smile that spread across his face in return.

"No problem, you know that," He replied with a quick shrug, his hands in his pockets running over the tickets he had stashed in there. He had been carrying them around for the past two days, waiting for the right moment to ask her out. The sky was dark as it often got at dinner time during winter, and the dining hall's lights looked warm and cozy. Josh held the door open for her as they went inside.

Over dinner they talked about their weekend and how little they had gotten done, complained about finals, and recounted the huge snow ball fight between her friends and his on the quad. His nervousness grew every time she gave him her full grin, not the shy one most guys were limited to; every time her eyes lit up at something he said; whenever she put her hand on his arm because she was laughing too hard. What if she said no and it ruined their perfect friendship? He wouldn't be able to live through the next year and a half of high school without her in his life. So, once again, he chickened out and continued to discuss winter break plans.

_

* * *

You are the best thing_

_That's ever been mine

* * *

_

"Joshua, what's your favorite part of the holiday season?" Claire asked randomly, as they were lying on the floor in her room, staring at the ceiling. The _Speak Now_ CD was playing softly in the background. He turned his head to look at her but she kept staring at the intricately patterned ceiling unique to her room.

"Hmmmm. I guess I would say that it's just so festive, and seeing family and all the cheer." He stopped to think about it more; he'd never been good at answering her questions on the spot. "What about you?"

"Well, I just LOVE Christmas, as you might have guessed," Claire replied thoughtfully, "But I think maybe I like New Year's best. There is something so meaningful about reflecting on and being thankful for the past year, and looking forward to a new one." She sighed softly and there was a small moment of silence. "Do you know what was most important to me this year?" She turned her head to meet his gaze.

"No, what would that be?" He asked, for once having no clue what was on her mind.

"You." She said simply, and a tentative smile graced her lips.

"… Me? What…" Josh was not sure he heard her right. His forehead creased and he looked confused.

"You, Joshua Michael Hotz. You're the only reason I've survived at this place. I was so scared to leave home, even if I was excited to come here. But you made it amazing that first day when you hit me on your skateboard. You saved me when Brendan was a douchebag and again with Cam. You've made every boring moment exciting, every stressful moment manageable, every depressing moment at least only slightly sad. You know me better than anyone here, better than my parents, better than the Pretty Committee, better than Layne. The only person who knows me better is Mandy, but she has no _idea_ what I've been through this semester, because it doesn't translate too well over email. So yes, Josh, I am so happy you have been in my life this year and I look forward to spending at least the next year and a half in your company," She let out in a rush. When she stopped to catch her breath, her eyes widened at what she'd just said, and a pink blush crept over her cheeks. Josh was speechless, and it made her nervous. She had just poured out her heart to him, and he was staring at her and she couldn't decipher the emotion behind his eyes.

"What about Taylor Swift?" He asked dumbly, the first thing that came to his mind. She couldn't help but let out a surprised giggle.

"Taylor Swift? What about her?"

"I believe you once said she could get you through any situation," Josh recalled, and then mentally slapped himself. Here Claire was trying to appreciate him, and he was handing it off to _Taylor Swift?_

Claire's giggle turned into full on laughter and she clutched her stomach. She stopped as quickly as she could though after seeing hurt flash lightning quick across Josh's face.

"Yes Josh, you, me, and Taylor Swift. Without the two of you I would have never made it here. But mostly you. You helped me through so many tough times, lead me to conquer fears and were always there for me. And… I think… I might love you." Claire bit her lip and waited. It was all up to Josh now.

Josh was no longer confused. Shocked? Yea. Ecstatic? Hell yea. But confused? Not at all. Now he knew exactly what he needed to do. His eyes were locked with those deep seas of blue, and he pushed a strand of hair away before leaning in to lock his lips with hers. It was a perfect kiss. Not in intensity or passion, but because it was soft and sweet just like she was.

"God Claire, you've no idea how long I've wanted to do that," He breathed, when they pulled apart. She giggled shyly.

"I've wanted it for a while too," she blushed, and Josh took that as a sign to go back for more. He allowed his arms to slip around her waist while her hands ran through his hair, and could think of no better feeling in the whole world than kissing Claire. Josh smiled as he remembered the tickets in the pocket of his jacket that was hanging over the back of Claire's desk chair. Giving them to her would have to wait. In that moment, they were all each other needed.

_

* * *

Long live the walls we crashed through  
I had the time of my life with you  
Long, long live the walls we crashed through  
How the kingdom lights shined just for me and you  
I was screaming long live all the magic we made  
And bring on all the pretenders  
I'm not afraid  
Singing long live all the mountains we moved  
I had the time of my life fighting dragons with you  
Long, long live the look on your face  
And bring on all the pretenders  
One day we will be remembered

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_

Thanks for reading guys! I hope the ending wasn't too lame. Like I said, I probably won't really be writing much if at all after this, so I hope you enjoyed it. A big happy holidays to you all!

~carefree


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